More Testimonials . . .

I recently purchased the Read & React video set and studied it over the holiday break. I love the concept and am currently in the process of teaching layer 1 to my team. I coach Varsity Boys at a small high school in a Native American village called Hoonah, Alaska. We scrimmaged in practice using layer 1 yesterday and I noticed it has immediately made my players more aggressive. I wish I had this system back in my playing days. What a fun way to play basketball. Here are some other benefits to the offense that weren’t mentioned in the videos.

1) It allows a coach more flexibility in substitution because players don’t have to learn positions; everybody is just a player.
2) It fosters a more aggressive mental mindset because players with the ball aren’t thinking about cutters & plays, but focusing on what they should; “How can I attack my defender?”
3) It allows for more scrimmaging in practice (my kids’ favorite part of practice) because you don’t need 10 kids who know the plays to run a productive scrimmage.

I have a lot of basketball tapes and dvds; yours are the best produced and explained of any I have ever seen, regardless of the content.

Coach Arne Eriksson
Head Varsity Boys Coach
Hoonah, Alaska

I coached my first game in 12 years this evening and won 54-35. We’ve only had 16 practices and don’t have the R&R habits completely down yet, but the girls did really well despite that.10 of the 11 girls scored with our high scorer at 13. Last year, only four of the girls got any real experience at the Varsity level with 6 of them scoring a combined total of 69 points in 25 games. Tonight, they had 21 combined points. The team we played tonight had post girls 5′11, 5′10, and two 5′9’s. My posts are 5′7″, 5′6″, and two 5′5″s, yet still scored 30 points between them. They especially love the Short Corner.

The Junior Varsity played Monday night and scored a 46-5 victory. Yes, they gave up 5 points. We’re a long ways away at this point, but the R&R is paying dividends. I will continue to keep you informed of our progress.

By the way, the clinic dvds have been very helpful. To be able to go check out a certain aspect of the offense as you taught it is priceless. Seeing it helps with the little details that I might not have gotten in my notes. Pure genius!!!

Coach Mike Severa
Brookfield, Missouri

Coach, I have purchased all of your fundamental tapes and recently purchased the Read & React tapes. EXCELLENT stuff!!! I have over 120 fundamental tapes: tapes on offenses, tapes on defenses, etc. and yours are well worth the money. Traditionally, I have been a coach that runs a lot of set plays (as many as 50 in a year), so this conversion to the R&R will be a change from our past work. Granted, we will still run some sets, but once they break down, we will move directly into the Read & React. Thanks for the great info in your tapes and I am singing your praises to fellow coaches.

Coach Jim Carlson
Spencer, Nebraska

I am the Head Coach for our boys’ varsity basketball team at a local university (Universiti Malaya) here in Malaysia. I have been coaching for 15 years now. We do not enjoy the kind of funding most US universities do so I have been coaching all those 15 years on volunteer basis!

First off, let me say, “Thank you very much” for your Read and React offensive system. I purchased the DVD set and have been “blown away” by how simple and obvious these “correct basketball principles” are explained. It’s so obvious, in fact, that we (the coaching staff) were left scratching our heads thinking, “Why didn’t any of us think of this ourselves??”

Truth be told, we were already implementing a few of the principles as strict “rules” (e.g. fill opposite corner on baseline drives and players must cut/fill on passes into post). We were implementing these because we knew them to be “correct basketball principles”; however, we certainly came nowhere near to designing a system as comprehensive or as seamlessly integrated as you have managed to achieve.

My apologies for the “gushing”, we are just so excited about the system. We have been dissatisfied with our “set plays” where 1 player missing his assignment / getting confused will mess up the whole set up. We’ve also been dissatisfied with our motion offense which takes so long for players to master (and some never do!). Your system is the answer to all these! We have of course begun implementing it.

Coach Khor Loke Yew
Head Boys Varsity Coach
Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

The latest update on my implementation of the R&R is that it has been a huge success. I decided to help rebuild a program this season and started with a group that had a pretty low basketball IQ, and within three weeks they are running through the offense. They are getting it, and even though the defense knows what we’re running, we’re still getting good looks on nearly every possession and everyone is staying involved. Other coaches in the area have heard about what I’m doing and asking if they can come watch us practice. If they want the details I will direct them to your site. I thought the clinic you and Better Basketball put on was great; I’ll let you know the end results when the season is over.

Coach Kyle Stevens

I am very happy with the DVD’s and love the offense. We have begun building it within our system and my players are catching on very quickly. It’s the best offense I have seen in basketball in a long time. My coaches and players love it.

Coach Jerrod Shelton
Head Coach Crockett County High School
Co-Director: Basketball Coaches Association of Tennessee

What a great Video Package! Kudos. Read & React takes the hap-hazzard bits and pieces I’ve been doing for 20 years and puts them into simple, understandable terms. It is indeed the complete package from 4th grade to college - simple to sophisticated - novice to elite.

Coach Cameron Bruce

I’m loving the Read and React offense. Admittedly, it has taken half the year to fully grasp it, but we have finally started to “get it”. For example, 2 weeks ago we played a team that we split games with last year and we beat them by 41 points. BTW, we lost our 6′5″ center, our 6′3″ PF that was our leading scorer and rebounder for 4 years, and another part time starter. We don’t start anyone over 6′2″, but the beauty of the R&R is: How tall do you have to be to shoot layups? We’re currently playing in a Holiday Tournament. Yesterday we matched up against a top 10 team in our classification that earlier had beaten us by 18. We did lose again, but this time by 5. We started by beating the junk out of them, and proceeded to get into foul trouble letting them back into the game. This year we are playing a much tougher schedule than last year, but we are in every game. THAT is the difference this offense has made. I liked what you said at the clinic, “This is not AN offense, this IS offense.” That is the best way to describe it.

One more thing that I have to tell you. The amazing part of running this in practice is that our defense has to play against it. If I were only a defense coach I would run the R&R to teach help-side “D” as well as intensity. Today we played a team that beat us earlier in the season by 26. We lost but were winning in the 3rd quarter. When we got behind and had to foul, they made their free throws. We are currently using the first 9 layers only and we are seeing great benefits from just those.

Coach John Pettit
Asst Varsity Coach
Cary Christian
Cary, North Carolina

I am delighted that we are singing off the same hymn sheet. I am committed to developing thinking coaches who are themselves committed to developing their abilities as people who will be able to develop players who are highly competent, who understand the game, and who can perform effectively within a whole range of offensive and defensive systems.

To my knowledge very few companies who produce coaching materials - visual or text -manage to make Clubs and Coaches believe they are truly motivated by anything other than making a buck.

I was introduced to your first Better Basketball product - your first video as it was then - by Terry Sanders, one of my then young coaches who has since gone on to coach our Junior Men to a National League Title and our Senior Women’s Teams to a first Regional National Championship.

When I watched that first video I immediately had the impression that you were a thoughtful, caring, and committed coach and that the Better Basketball formula was well worth establishing as one of our Club’s key resources for players. I immediately authorized Terry to purchase the rest of the initial series that you produced. I advised our coaches and our individual players to purchase their own copies. The vast majority of them did.

I am convinced that if your company as a market leader can now get the message across to Clubs and Coaches around the world that you are developing your services to help them develop better basketball programs with better coaching so that their players can reach higher levels of technical play and game understanding, then you will gain an enormous share of a very large market.

If there is any way that my Club and its network can help you develop that market, then please let me know. I look forward to seeing your Read and React Clinic footage at some time in the future, and to getting any advice as to dvds/videos/text articles that you feel would be worth our program purchasing.

Kind Regards,
Tom Sunley
Telford, Shropshire, UK

The Read and React Offense has done wonders for our program and has rejuvenated me as a coach. It is the offense I have been searching for and wish I had played in. We are implementing it in our feeder schools and are excited about the future of our players. In fact, we are implementing the pass and cut layer into an instructional league we offer to 5 and 6 year olds. I feel a lot more comfortable in what we are doing offensively and have already seen a tremendous difference in our players basketball IQ just 4 weeks into the year. I look forward to receiving the clinic DVDs so I can learn more and plan on attending the next Read and React Clinic.

Coach Ryan Smith
Warren County HS Boys Basketball

It’s pretty neat to see the Read & React against another team. It was also neat to see my girls reading situations on their own just based on the habits we’ve formed through Layer 6. For instance, on one trip our point guard used a speed dribble to the wing. Our wing made the basket cut and then our point drove baseline below the posts. The posts slid up the lane to give the 45 and 90 degree passing windows and the wing that made the basket cut paused before filling out to the open spot. Our point guard picked up on it, made a retreat dribble freezing the defense, then threw a nice bounce pass along the baseline to the cutter who snuck behind the D for a lay-up. It was neat to watch and to know that they did that on their own and there were no set plays involved, just habits.

I simply cannot thank you enough! We open for real this Friday. I’ll keep you posted! Thanks!

Coach Jeremy Hartman

The Read & React is everything I’ve been trying to teach for the past 7 years. Now, with the correct principles, I can make it happen. I’m now a R&R junkie. The only problem I have now is trying to watch bad basketball at all levels. It’s so hard to watch the wrong way our kids have been playing for so long.

We implemented the R&R principles early this season and we will test it against our league. It has really gotten our kids playing a more attacking style of ball.

I’ve been coaching youth basketball for 7 years and with these offensive principles I can run any type of set or offense I want and feel completely comfortable that it will work at any level.

Thanks for putting your heart into this system. I will be coaching this style of play for many years to come.

Very Respectfully,
Coach John Loveless
Ijamsville, Maryland

Just wanted to let you guys know I really enjoyed the clinic. I think Rick did a great job putting this “offense” together. I’m really excited about implementing it into my AAU team’s offense. Arkansas Baptist starts practice Wednesday and our head coach is very interested in what I observed this past weekend. I believe it will be an eye opening experience for him.

Coach Corliss Williamson

I’m a new R&R customer and am just making my way thru the discs for the first time. I have all of the previous BB discs and have used them for years and appreciate the no-nonsense and high-impact approach that Rick takes.

This year, I coach a 7th grade boys “B” team and am looking forward to giving the boys a better structure than just play. That’s what resonated with me and why I purchased the R&R system.

Coach Chris Curran

I just wanted to say thank you to Rick for all the work he has put into these videos. They have made a difference in my coaching style and what I teach my kids. The basics, the foundation on which basketball is played is put together so well. I am a huge fan of basketball and am hoping that these videos make a difference in the game and improve basketball all over the world.

Thank you,
Coach Jason Snider

Thank you so much for helping me progress as a coach. You guys really don’t know how much you have done for me and my guys.

Coach Danny Nelson
Ireland

The fact is simple; your R&R Offense is everything you said it would be - and then some! We have two AAU Girls teams running it right now, a 12U and a 13U.

A couple of coaches had seen us early on in a competitive league. When we ran up against them in an AAU tournament, they thought they had figured us out. In fact, one coach told me he “was going to shut down that spread-out offense” we were running.

Sure enough, they spread their zone way out (didn’t go man-to-man) so we made one simple adjustment and beat them by 16 points!

Nobody can figure out what we’re doing, but they’re all guessing.

I could go on and on, but the main point is to let you know - you’ve done it Rick! With the right push in the right places and in the right direction, I’m sure you’ll become known in the basketball future as the guy who innovated and unified the way basketball is taught to players from ages 8 to 80!!

Thanks for a great system and for all the other training programs you’ve put into our hands!

Greg Coates
Executive Director
CFL Hoopsters, Inc

I am really enjoying the R&R offense. It is the best way of teaching offensive principles I have seen in 25 years of being a basketball coach.

Your Clinic presentation of the Read & React Offensive system is the best thing a coach could sit through.

I have always been a huge Don Meyer student. With adding the Read and React, it has completed my system of play. My only regret is that I did not get this system earlier in my career.

It has been an answered prayer to me as a coach. I felt like this year I was becoming a little stagnant in my approach to teaching basketball. I feel like I have new life, especially as it relates to my look on the game and teaching players how to play.

It is amazing how I see many of my set plays in your system, but now the kids seem to play with much more confidence within the flow of the game.

We worked on the R&R for 3 days with the basic 3-4 layers. I was so excited about trying it out. I was amazed at the shot selection and easy baskets we got.

Combine the Read and React System with our Don Meyer defensive system and basketball is fun to coach!

Coach Mark Tebbs
Augusta, Georgia

The Read & React System is the best tool for teaching kids not only how to play individually (habits) but also how to play together. It saves time in practice by making the shell drill another opportunity to run the offense.

On the defensive side, my kids have never jumped to the ball and denied the basket cut better because the offense forces a basket cut EVERY time. This offense is the perfect challenge for modern, pressure defenses as it really puts pressure on the help-side defenders. It also lends itself to depth, as there is so much movement that many more kids can find themselves involved in the game.

Our guards’ turnover rates are down because they always know where at least one guy is open. I could go on and on but after 13 mostly winnings seasons at the high school varsity level with some hardware in the trophy case, I’ve never been this psyched about an upcoming season.

Thanks so much.
Coach John Wiley,
Redmond, Washington

I watched and taught the Read & React in just 3 weeks. Great dvds. I have been looking for this type of system for 18 years. I have taught motion, Blocker - mover, etc., but this is much easier to teach and learn. If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know.

Coach Greg Shamburg
N. Oklahoma College

I have found your coaching series to be the best out there in any sport and I appreciate your willingness to communicate and clarify in this format. I came across your R&R offense in Women’s Basketball Magazine and when I saw the way it put complete structure and thought into our spread attack, it was pretty awesome. I am seeing some nice progress and our first tournament is coming up so we will let you know.

The positive aspects of your approach (especially for these young players) was heightened for me tonight when I went to watch my 5th grade son play his first school game. He is a pretty good player, but there is only one or two other kids with him that have a chance. Anyway, watching him try to control the ball on the perimeter while trying to raise one or two fingers and call a “play” and then watch his teammates stare at each other trying to remember if they were supposed to screen, cut, or go to the concession stand, gave me chest pains. I would love to spend 30 minutes with them doing nothing more than the basics of a level one, five out circle rotation idea and then watch their success soar. Anyway, thanks for what you do.

Coach Don Ericksen

We beat our cross-town rivals tonight to open the season. We were down by 7 at halftime but blew them out in the 2nd half. Last year, we only got that kind of a blowout with defense, but tonight we found a) one of our presses that worked better than the others, b) the right combination of players, and then c) the R&R did the rest.

The first half was even, but we just kept missing short shots. Once we got that under control, it was pretty impressive. Our shooters had no trouble getting open on the perimeter, and whenever anyone drove, there was always a nice dish. Our forwards seemed to be retreating to the short corner very nicely on the drives. It was just like there was always SOMEONE in the right spot for a pitch or dish. That rarely happened last season: we had to rely on a few awesome shooters who could “Le Bron it” with 2 defenders in their face. Now, I have guys who need a little room, and R&R definitely gives them that half second to get things off.

Another thing that I noticed was that some of my guys who probably shouldn’t drive too much were managing to penetrate as well. It didn’t always turn out well, but there was normally someone to pass to. R&R is helping my players get more aggressive on offense.

The opponent switched between man and zone throughout the game, but we never really cared. A couple times their zone seemed to stop us up, but once we got R&R rolling, there was always an open shot after 4 or 5 passes or a penetrate and pitch.

The best thing is that I think the boys are sold on this as well. Whereas the other coach (who has coached the Norwegian national team) ran a few flex variations that were pretty easy to detect, we were totally unpredictable with R&R. So much of the stuff on your dvds really did seem to be true in our case. Last year, the same team killed us with a zone. We blew a 20-point lead against them when they went to it. So tonight was a real dream. We even pulled off a nice pin screen for a 3. I had my 5 using the power dribble as his entry to the post, and that worked well also. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses!!

Coach Keith Downey
Norway